Bloom
by Strawberry Shortcake123
Summary: Tony and Ziva's nine month journey to parenthood. Ten drabble mini-series; prequel to Family for Observation.
1. Conception

"We better close this case soon," Ziva griped, sliding into the passenger's seat of the car while Tony settled into the driver's seat. "This is the third night in a row Gibbs has sent us on a coffee run at ten o'clock."

"We will," he said. One hand stayed on the wheel as he backed out of the parking space and the other moved, almost automatically, to take hers. "And then we can go home and rest up, regroup."

Ziva closed her eyes and tried to relax her body and mind. They rode in silence for several minutes, and she was doing pretty well at de-stressing until a sudden thought jumped into her consciousness. Her eyes snapped open. "Tony."

"What?"

"Do you know how long it's been?"

Tony glanced over at her. "How long what- oh. Um…" He scrunched up his face and thought, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. "Has it been… three weeks? Is that right?"

"I think it is," she said, watching him closely. "That's… been a while."

"Leave it to Gibbs to mess up our sex life," he sighed. "Especially when we're trying to have a baby."

With a smirk, Ziva disentangled her fingers from her husband's and poked him in the stomach. "Your transfer request better be accepted soon, or there's never going to be a little DiNozzo running around."

He didn't respond, but something in his face changed, and before she could ask what was wrong he had turned off the main road and onto a deserted side street.

"What are you doing?" she asked, confused.

"I don't think anybody needs their coffee right this second," he explained, turning off the car, unbuckling his seatbelt and looking at Ziva with raised eyebrows and a smile playing on his lips. "I know we generally keep it out of public places, but…"

Then she understood, and her heartbeat picked up a little.

"No, they can wait a while," she agreed, fighting a grin, and followed him as he crawled over the console and lay down across the back seat. They had to stay flush together so as not to fall into the floor- not that either of them had a problem with it. Ziva laced her fingers through the hair at the nape of Tony's neck and planted her mouth on his, and the fatigue of the day evaporated as they replaced it with fervent kissing. Their hands fumbled with the buttons on each other's shirts; the shirts were tossed aside at the same time. Just as Tony's hands moved down her torso, skimming along the waistband of her pants, his cell phone began to ring, and they were startled out of their moment.

He sighed loudly, knowing it was Gibbs, and ignored both the call and the consequences of screening his boss. Putting the phone on silent and abandoning it on the floor, he pressed his lips to Ziva's bare shoulder.

"You will be in trouble," she taunted gently in his ear.

"I don't care," he whispered, and it quickly became very evident that she didn't, either.

**If you are here because you read Family for Observation: Yay! This is a ten drabble, prequel mini-series created with you guys in mind. Hope you enjoy it as much as FFO.**

**If you have not read Family for Observation: Welcome! You don't need to have read FFO to understand this story; however, if you end up liking it, you might want to go check out FFO and see if you like it, too.**

**Finally, thank you to Sophie (Anonymous033), who unintentionally inspired this chapter by elaborating on Car (drabble #19 on FFO- it is somewhat related to the drabble above).**

**Thank you all for reading, and please leave a review! : )**


	2. Month One

Ziva sat at the kitchen table, feet drumming against the linoleum floor. It had been ten minutes since she had sent Tony a text message saying nothing more than _Come home now_. He was just down the road at Blockbuster; he would be walking through the front door at any moment. She was both nervous and excited; she simultaneously wished that he would hurry up and that something would delay his arrival.

Beside her, three white sticks sat on a neatly folded paper towel.

Five more minutes passed before the front door was unlocked and footsteps echoed in the entryway. Ziva stood up quickly from her chair when he called her name. "In here."

Tony came in, eyes clouded with concern. "Hey, what's wrong? Is your stomach bothering you again?"

"No. No, nothing is wrong." She pursed her lips and glanced away, trying to decide how to proceed, but emotion took over and words failed her. As Tony began to understand, she simply picked up the white sticks and turned them toward him so he could see the three pink plus signs.

A beat passed, and then a grin broke out across his face. "Ziva, we did it. We did it," he said, crossing the kitchen in two huge strides and touching her cheek. The sticks fell from her hand and clattered to the floor as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and they shared two sweet kisses before he hugged her, lifting her off the ground. She pressed her face into his neck and cried as a result of happiness and hormones, and soon she felt moisture on her own skin from what she could only assume were Tony's tears. He continued to hold her under the thighs, and she clung to him.

Finally, when their eyes were mostly dry, he set her gently back on her feet and rested his forehead against hers. "I'm really happy," he murmured, and Ziva chuckled. Their hands found each other against her presently flat stomach.

"So am I."

**Thanks to everyone for reading- I was so surprised and excited with the turnout on the first update! Please review, and Family for Observation has been updated today, as well, if you are interested. : )**


	3. Month Two

"Alright," Abby announced, stepping into the center of the bullpen with her hands on her hips. Team Gibbs paused and looked up from their respective computers. "It is Friday and we just wrapped a case. Tie up the loose ends, and then we're _all_ going out for drinks! No buts! We haven't done this in way too long!"

Gibbs sighed, but opted not to protest. McGee shrugged. Tony and Ziva exchanged a quick glance. "Um, Abby," Ziva said, "I'm really tired-"

"If _anyone's_ coming, _you_ are," Abby interrupted. "We haven't done anything together since- I don't even know! So I'll see you, all of you, later." With that, she gave them a long look, then turned on her heel and strode out of the bullpen.

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Later, Tony and Ziva convened in the men's restroom. After ensuring that they were alone, Ziva said, "We have to tell them. They will figure it out when I don't drink tonight."

"We could replace the alcohol with water when nobody's looking," Tony said helpfully.

She shook her head tiredly. "Tony, what are you so afraid of?"

He swallowed and leaned back against the wall, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Gibbs."

"Why?" she asked incredulously. "We are married. You are being transferred. He cannot possibly fault us for being pregnant. Besides, his reaction cannot be worse than the time he found us making out in the elevator."

"Oh, jeez." Tony put a hand to his face. "Don't even bring that up."

Ziva sighed and fussed with her hair in the mirror over the sink. After a moment, she turned back to him. "They will find out eventually."

"I know."

"Let's just get it over with."

The look on his wife's face made it pretty clear what they were going to do. He really didn't have a choice in the matter, so he just made it easier for both of them. "Okay. We'll do it tonight."

She smiled and placed her head on his chest. Tony rubbed her back and used his other hand to pull his cell phone from his pocket so he could check the time. "Um."

"What?" Ziva craned her neck to see. "You called Abby?"

"I didn't mean to!" The call had, apparently, been going on for three minutes. He tentatively lifted the phone to his ear. "Abs?"

"_Ziva's pregnant?_"

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Ziva sighed. "Well. That's that."

**Hope you enjoyed. Let me know! : )**


	4. Month Three

Tony dropped his backpack behind his desk and marched over to McGee's. He leaned down and waited for the junior field agent to look up before hissing, "She is insane."

McGee blinked. "Ziva?"

"Yes, Ziva. She is a raving _lunatic, _okay?"

He peered over Tony's shoulder and couldn't find said pregnant assassin. "Is she coming in today?"

"She's in the bathroom." Standing up, Tony ran a hand over his face. "McGee, I don't know how I'm going to do this for the next six months. Last night, she started crying out of nowhere and I didn't know how to help because there's no real _reason_ for it, it's just… hormones or whatever. And this morning she found my sock on the floor and completely lay into me for, I'm serious, five minutes."

"Uh." McGee sounded very uncomfortable. "I really don't know what to tell you."

"I know what to tell you. Buck up."

Gibbs' voice came from behind Tony, making him jump. After swallowing a mouthful of coffee, he continued, "She's carrying your baby, DiNozzo. Your job is to put up with her and make her life easier."

"Yes, Boss. Of course, Boss," he replied automatically. His phone _ding_ed with the arrival of a text message. As he pulled it out and read it, his face turned a little bit paler. "My lovely bride is summoning me," he sighed, backing away. "Listen, if I don't come back, it's been nice working with you!"

As he hurried off in the direction of the bathroom, Gibbs shook his head and muttered, "I should have retired the day I saw those two kissing in the elevator."

**Update for you!**

**Review?**

**That rhymed. :P**


	5. Month Four

"I don't like this."

Tony was pulled back to consciousness just as he was about to succumb to sleep. He peered down at Ziva, who was lying on her side and curling into his. "Huh?"

"I prefer to lie on my right side," she said huffily, shifting a little. "I do not understand why it is so important that I lie on my left."

"I just heard a lot of big words when the doctor was explaining why," he replied, smoothing down her hair with his hand. They lapsed into silence. Again, he drifted off, and again, he was startled awake when Ziva spoke. "Tony."

Biting back a sigh, he replied mildly. "Yeah?"

"Do you realize that… that lying on a certain side is just the first of the accommodations that will be made for this baby? When he or she comes, our lives will change. Drastically." She paused and moved her head to his chest, ear over his heart. "That just now, um… is the phrase 'hit me'?"

Tony didn't confirm her correct use of the idiom, though, because he, too, was suddenly having this realization. Now, Ziva had to sleep on her left side; in six months, they wouldn't be sleeping much at all; after that, it would be a constant balance between work and family needs. The night they had made the baby, they had been complaining about not having sex for three weeks. Pretty soon, once every three weeks was going to sound really good.

Fear seemed to seize him as he pondered the gravity of the responsibility they were taking on. It seemed silly for a federal agent who dealt with murderers on a daily basis to blanch at the thought of taking care of a baby… but now, it was genuinely freaking him out.

He looked down at Ziva, his view of her face obscured by a mass of unkempt curls. After he stroked them aside, he noticed that she did not look troubled- she just looked thoughtful. As if sensing his trepidation, she smiled softly and said, "It will be worth it."

The words instantly soothed him, because they were true. They would always be true. "It will," he agreed, kissing her forehead as he began to calm himself down. "Our baby will be worth it."

**Please review? Pretty please with a cherry on top? : ) Thank you for reading!**


	6. Month Five

Ziva lay on the ultrasound table, staring at the ceiling and drumming her fingers against her rounded stomach. In the chair beside her sat Tony, who tapped his feet and repeatedly bounced his fists off his knees. The fidgeting eventually got on Ziva's nerves, and she turned toward him. "Tony."

"Sorry." He rubbed his palms on his jeans. "I just really want to get this going."

"Why?"

With a twinkle in his eye, he leaned forward until their faces were only inches apart. As she furrowed her brow, he said, "Because I know it's a girl."

Her fingers stopped their rapid movement. "What?"

"It's a girl. DiNozzo gut feeling." Ziva gave a snort of derision. Tony gasped in mock hurt. "Hey! This gut has caught all kinds of bad guys, woman! Don't underestimate it!"

She gave him a look- one not dissimilar to the stare she leveled at suspects who were lying. He opened his mouth to try and convince her, but their doctor entered the room and Ziva quickly put on a friendly face.

While she set up the ultrasound and rubbed gel on Ziva's stomach, Dr. Beltran asked several questions pertaining to the pregnancy and seemed satisfied with the answers. She made some notes on a clipboard, then set it aside and grabbed the ultrasound transducer. "Alright. Are we finding out the sex today?"

"You can confirm it, I guess," Tony said with a shrug. "We already know it's a girl."

Dr. Beltran raised an eyebrow. Ziva hit him in the arm. "Ignore him," she said to the doctor. "Yes, we would like to know."

The transducer slid across her stomach, and the image of what was inside soon began to form on the screen in front of them. Tony and Ziva watched, fascinated, as their baby took shape before them. The head and one arm were clearly visible; the rest of the body looked like one big blob to the untrained eye. But Dr. Beltran studied the screen only momentarily before smiling and saying, "Well, look at that, Mr. DiNozzo. You _are_ having a little girl."

"I knew it!" Tony looked over at Ziva with a grin on his face, prepared to gloat good-naturedly, but she surprised him by mirroring the grin.

She reached for his hand and held it tightly in hers. "I will not say this often," she warned, and then began to blink a little bit quicker. "But I am glad you were right."

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	7. Month Six

"Noya, Ayala, Yael, Hasia," Tony read from Ziva's piece of paper, stumbling over each syllable. "Ziva, are these even _names?_ Did you make them up?"

"Of course I did not make them up," she snapped, taking back her list. "They are common in Israel. I thought you said I could be in charge of the first name."

"You're forgetting an important part of that agreement. I have veto power." He tossed his arm across the back of the couch and absentmindedly played with her hair as she huffed and sat back against the cushions. In a softer voice, he added, "I thought maybe you'd want to name her after your sister."

Ziva rolled her head back against his arm and stared at the ceiling while she replied. "I considered it, but I decided that saying her name every hour of every day… would conjure up too many memories. It would be too painful."

Tony nodded understandingly. His free hand came to rest on her belly; his thumb stroked it through the fabric of her shirt. They sat in silence for several moments before Ziva took a deep breath, turned toward him, and broke it. "However, I did have another idea."

"Lay it on me."

"When I was a child, my mother had a couple of azalea bushes along the side of our house. They were… always there, I think, my whole life. I did not have much interest in the flowers, but Tali did." She tucked her hair behind her ear, then dropped her hand onto her stomach to intertwine with Tony's. "From the time she was four years old, Tali would get so excited when the flowers bloomed. She used to spend hours outside working on them with our mother, or just admiring them. They were always her favorite flower, Tony. Always." Ziva lowered her head and looked up at him, almost shyly, through her eyelashes. "The name Talia reminds of my sister's death. But I have heard 'azalea' used as a name in Israel from time to time, and… whenever I hear it, or see the flower… I feel… comforted?" She sighed. "I do not know what I'm trying to say."

"I understand," Tony assured her, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.

Nodding, she pursed her lips, then asked, "What would you think about naming her Azalea?"

He definitely wasn't going to veto it; he could see what this memory of Tali meant to her, what this _name_ had come to mean to her. Never mind that _he'd_ never heard of anybody named Azalea; people named their daughters Lily and Violet and Rose, so why not? More importantly, Ziva was watching him hopefully. There was no way he would shoot that down.

"Azalea DiNozzo. I like it," he said with a shrug and a grin.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

She smiled back at him and wrapped her arms around his torso the best she could with their baby- Azalea- between them. Tony returned the embrace and kissed her head when she murmured, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Thank you, Tony."

"No need to thank me," he whispered, and this time he pulled back so he could kiss her on the lips.

**Three more!**

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	8. Month Seven

Gibbs hung up his phone and barked, "Found the petty officer's wife. DiNozzo, McGee, here's the address; go get her."

As they grabbed their things, Ziva snapped her head around to glare at him and made no attempt to hide her displeasure. "I have not left this desk all week!"

"Ziver, you can barely move. I'm not sending you out in the field," Gibbs replied as he strode past her and turned left, presumably en route to the director's office. She sighed loudly and repositioned herself in her desk chair; it wasn't the most comfortable place to sit and manage her sizable belly.

Tony came around behind her and rubbed her shoulders, and McGee did what he did best when his coworkers decided to have a moment: vanished. "It's okay," Tony said. "Only a couple more months."

"I am going crazy," Ziva lamented. "I do not like being _stuck_, and also, dealing with Gibbs alone is no… no party!"

"You mean picnic," he corrected gently. "But you're right. It's not."

"And Tony," she added, her voice growing softer. She pushed against the edge of her desk, spinning her chair around so she could look up at him. "This is our last case together before you take charge of the other team. I will miss being your partner; I want to work with you as much as I can right now."

He nodded understandingly and leaned over to kiss the top of her head. "I know. I feel that way too, but Gibbs is right. If something went wrong out there, it wouldn't be safe for you."

Ziva narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. "I am still perfectly capable of shooting someone. Including you."

"I thought you wanted to spend time with me at work."

Her face did not change.

"Is that my cue to go?"

"Yes."

Tony grinned in spite of the way she was wrinkling her nose at him, and he patted her belly. "Be back soon." He dropped a kiss onto her mouth and was surprised when she wouldn't allow him to pull away; instead, she grabbed the back of his head and deepened the kiss with such force that he stumbled slightly. They kissed intensely and thoroughly until Ziva broke it off, and he then raised an eyebrow at her. "I dunno about you, but that was the best office kiss _I've_ ever had."

"Do not get used to it," she said, turning her chair back to face her desk. "I am just pregnant, grumpy, and hormonal."

As he slipped out of her cubicle, though, Tony didn't miss the little smile gracing her pretty face.

**This one's just kind of fun. Hope you enjoyed! Review?**


	9. Month Eight

"It is coming along well."

Tony jumped and almost dropped his paint roller. "Ziva, what the hell are you doing?" he demanded, turning away from the half-yellow, half-white wall. "You aren't supposed to be in here. The fumes aren't good for you."

"I will leave in a moment," she said, rubbing her belly as she turned in circles so as to take in her surroundings. "I just wanted to see how it looked. This color was a good choice."

"It was," he agreed, setting the roller down in its tray and walking up behind her. He put his hands on her hips and maneuvered her out into the hallway. "Go watch TV or something, okay? You can come back in here tomorrow, when everything's dry and I've moved the furniture in."

Ziva made a face but didn't have time to say anything before he kissed her and then shut the bedroom door.

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It was the following night before Tony emerged from the baby's room, sweaty and beaming proudly, and announced that it was time for her to see it. In two days, he had taken a few meal breaks and slept about twelve hours; other than that, he had been hard at work. Ziva waddled down the hallway, allowing him to shuffle along behind her with his hands over her eyes. When they entered the room, he said, "Alright. Get ready. One… two… three!"

What she saw were four cheery yellow walls, a crib with pink and yellow bedding, a rocking chair in the corner. There was a changing table and a dresser, both of which were stocked with their necessary supplies. On the wall above the crib was a purple wooden _A_.

"Well?"

She looked over at Tony and found him waiting somewhat nervously for her reaction. With a smile, she stepped forward and slipped her arms around him, pulling him as close as she could with the baby between them. "I love it, Tony," she whispered into his shoulder. "I do."

He breathed out and his muscles relaxed as he returned her embrace. Propping his chin on the top of her head, he observed his handiwork once more.

"I think we're ready."

**One more! :)**


	10. Birth

"Tony, I can't."

Tony was practically bouncing with anxiety and exhilaration as he smoothed down Ziva's hair, slick with sweat. "You're almost there. You're so close."

"One more push, Ziva," a nurse called from the end of the bed.

"_Harah_," she cursed loudly, slipping her hand into Tony's and gripping it hard. He turned away momentarily so she wouldn't see him wince in pain. She took a deep breath, lifted her head off the pillow, and gritted her teeth. It was three long seconds before a wail pierced the air and the room erupted in cheers and activity and Tony moved from her side so that he could cut the umbilical cord. Ziva craned her neck to see over her raised legs and caught sight of a swirl of dark hair before the baby was whisked away.

Exhausted, she collapsed on the bed. Tony appeared above her, a huge grin on his face. "You did awesome," he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "You owned childbirth, ninja style."

"Where is she?"

"They're cleaning her up. Did you see her face? She looks like you."

That made Ziva smile, and her husband's excited chatter faded into the background as a nurse made her way over to the bed with a pink bundle. "Here you are," she said softly. Ziva pulled herself into a half-sitting position and took her baby. When she saw the little face peering out at her- the puckered lips, the dark eyes- she was overcome with a feeling she couldn't put into words. She stared into those eyes, unable to look away. Tony sat on the bed beside her and rested his chin on her shoulder, moving one of his arms beneath hers so that he could cradle their daughter, too.

Ziva's lower lip was quivering the slightest bit as she carefully raised one hand to touch the baby's cheek, but her voice was strong when she said, "_Shalom_, Azalea May."

**I'm sad this story is over, but I'm also excited to post this because… I just really, really love how this scene plays out in my head.**

**I want to thank everybody who had read, reviewed, alerted, and/or favorited this story! You guys rock; I wouldn't be writing this stuff if it weren't for you!**

**If you enjoyed Bloom and want to see more Tony, Ziva and Azalea, check out Family for Observation- just a compilation of (mostly fluffy) drabbles about the three of them.**

**And… okay, I think that's all. Review if you are so inclined, read FFO if you are so inclined, and thank you so much for reading!**


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